Former Madoff aides convicted of assisting fraud

NEW YORK, March 24

NEW YORK, March 24 Five former aides to
investment manager Bernard Madoff were convicted on Monday on
charges that they helped their boss conceal his massive Ponzi
scheme for years.

A federal jury in New York found back-office director Daniel
Bonventre, portfolio managers Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi
and computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez guilty
of securities fraud in connection with clients of the former
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. They were also
convicted of conspiring to defraud those clients.

The case was the first to reach trial since Madoff's arrest
in December 2008 and lasted more than five months. Prosecutors
introduced into evidence thousands of pages of internal
documents seized from Madoff's investment firm and called dozens
of witnesses.

Madoff is serving a 150-year-prison sentence after pleading
guilty to running a Ponzi scheme. Investors lost principal
estimated at more than $17 billion.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Dan Grebler)